KRARI 2018 Book!

Kids Reading Across RI Program

Kick Off Celebration!

Saturday, May 19, 2018
Doors open 2:00 – 4:00 PMRI State House
Free parking in the State of RI lots

Honorary Chair: Governor Gina Raimondo

Kids Reading Across Rhode Island, Rhode Island’s One Book, One State community read program for kids, is kicking off its 9th year! This program, offered in partnership with the Rhode Island Center for the Book at the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, encourages students across the state in grades 4 through 6 to read the same book, and engage in community discussions and programs. This year’s selection is The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez.

The First Rule of Punk

There are no shortcuts to surviving your first day at a new school–you can’t fix it with duct tape like you would your Chuck Taylors. On Day One, twelve-year-old Malu (Maria Luisa, if you want to annoy her) inadvertently upsets Posada Middle School’s queen bee, violates the school’s dress code with her punk rock look, and disappoints her college-professor mom in the process. Her dad, who now lives a thousand miles away, says things will get better as long as she remembers the first rule of punk: be yourself.

The real Malu loves rock music, skateboarding, zines, and Soyrizo (hold the cilantro, please). And when she assembles a group of like-minded misfits at school and starts a band, Malu finally begins to feel at home. She’ll do anything to preserve this, which includes standing up to an anti-punk school administration to fight for her right to express herself!

Celia C. Pérez

Celia C. Pérez. will speak and sign books throughout the afternoon andThe First Rule of Punk will be given out (one per family) while supplies last.

Inspired by punk and her love of writing, Celia C. Pérez has been making zines for longer than some of you have been alive. Her favorite zine supplies are her long-arm stapler, glue sticks, animal clip art (to which she likes adding speech bubbles), and watercolor pencils. She still listens to punk music, and she’ll never stop picking cilantro out of her food at restaurants. Her zines and writing has been featured in The Horn Book Magazine, Latina, El Andar, Venus Zine, and NPR’s Talk of the Nation and Along for the Ride.

Celia is the daughter of a Mexican mother and a Cuban father. Originally from Miami, Florida, she now lives in Chicago with her family and works as a community college librarian. She owns two sets of worry dolls because you can never have too many. The First Rule of Punk is her first book for young readers.